New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-05-01
MAY DAY HAS ITS IERRORS.
ESPECIALLY WHEN 1T FALLS ON SUNDAY.

! TIE TRIALS OF THE MOVING sEAsoN-vAN CoMPA-
MES OVERWHELMED WITH APPLICANTS.
a May Day that falls on Sunday is sure to multi
| ply the terrOrs Of the moving season by three.
| People who hold leases in such cases may drop
| thea the day before tho day after, ana the
| chances are that tho half who want to move in on
Saturday will find the other half waiting to move
out on Monday aud the result is naturally nothing
| but confusion, grumbling and dism az, genuine
household interregnum for three days. Moving on
Sunday itself is last resort. But with the Sunday
laws enforced, few truckmeD will venture now
adays to run the gauntlet OF the police with big
Sunday load of household goods.
Many are the complaints lodged on moving days
at the offices of the van companies. The vans
never come at the right time or if they come
and carry away half ones goods, they never turn
up again for the second load. Most of the com
plalnants are women with high, sharp voices full
o excitement each with tragicaly injured air
Where is that van | ordered last week." said
one yesterday, rushing into an uptown Office Here
It's Saturday afternoon and everythng's been torn
up for hours, and the driver was TO come at 10 this
morning Where am going to sleep tonight with
my bed stacked up on the sidewalk, and how can
get TO church tomorrow with my new bonnet in
that yellow trunk that's to go on the irst loadi"
"But Mrs. Smith" the clerk begins SYM
pathetically.
am not Mrs. Smith. I'm Mrs Blank, of West
Thirty -seyenth-st, and l want that van DIDN'T
you promise me for 10 oclock''
"Ah, yes, Mrs. Blank, now remember But
Your van broke down just this morning and we
haven't had chance TO fix it yet Say you hire
'pick-ncu up ont there on the corner"
:" But 1 won't be swindled by those pirates /
bred your van mnst have it Then moro ap-
pealingly: Really We must get In tonight. Can't
you do anything for usi"
And the clerk condescenGs TO guess that he may
he able TO get van round. Then he fixes another
hour aud lays n few more perjuries upon his soul
and the unfortunate complainant Is got rid OF tenn
porarty. ..
The men who try their hauds at it are more
sarcastic .....
see some relatives while you're moving MS ana
aren't In harry to get back What's the matter,
with van l | and ii o'clock -,
"Sent it around OF hali-past TO- says the clerk
Then the books are consulted The numbers do
not agree. The sarcastic man sweafs, says ne nasnt
had ANYTHING TO eat since breakfast time anu ex-
poets TO 20 10 bed cold supper, all for the con-
founded stupidity of the van company end his
wife has been OH pins and needles all day about the
business Then he swears some more and the clerk
promises him q van with panied air that argues
we'll for its arriving some time before the next
Tuesday. The sarcastic man goes down SIDE
street and hires a tramp cXpre5sman at double
rates 10 be on the safe sie aud has to have his
goods carried away in an open truck finally before
the companys van arrives
Il ia impossbe of course, to make the vans begin
10 90 round. Tho big Metropolitan Van and Stor-
age Company has only eighteen wagons The
Manhattan has scarcely that number and the other
big express and storage con- panies here can show
only two or three a piece. The vans are let far
ahead and for from twelve TO eighteen hours each
day of the moving season. For each load carried
the company gets S1S $40 800. If the stu has to
be taken TO Harlem or beyond. Charges Tor pack
ing are extra. Rates during the summer or winter
months do not go higher than $40 or $l2 load
and even at that there Is good proht But 40
what they can, and charge what they please, the !
vans cannot do half OF the moving business;
So moving week turns into a rich harvest Tor all
Che . tramp expressmen and carriers about town.
The nieht-hawk cabmen, with contngent from
the shabbier stables, turn truckmen and help prey
upOp unfortunate house-holders Inc " tramp
exr ressmen have no regular charges. ono Oh them
NAV promise to carry load OF furniture across |
town for $ or up 70 STa ow ,9r the whole of il be-
fore he gets through, SO quickly 40 inc extra
charges mount up for loading unloading, carrying
tho stun in and up-stairs ard turning lt over IN
good order Tho worst of these Jay -hawkers Hour,
ish on the East and West Sides chiefly ana avoiu
the squares and standing places, Ike proauwa ay
Thirty.thrd-st aud Slxth-aye., where tho more
reputable of the tramp" expressmen congrogate'
In the tenement district, of course, moving Is
simne affair, a small caTb OF SUIsie WaSoht
coupe of big bags. beng quite enough for the Duik
of the movers
Moving has been trihe more general this year,
according to the van companies Their vans, they
say. have been taken earlier and kept later TIA In
anv other year. The drivers aud packers have had
scarcely moments rest for q week back, and the
rush promises to continue for o week more Almost
every van has been kept in town. too. tie pictures
painted on their Sides of vans rushing ever country
roads behind he rses and steam engines, to the con-
trary not withdrawing The van people have noted
no general moyeme OF from one part OF town to an
other. They agree, however, that rev New iorAeh'
have gone over to Jersey or to Brookiyn
The real estate men who have 10 90 WIN houses
OF fats uptown, say that there are iewer ehanggs
this year than last year. Morris Brunner Oh MOTIFS
d. Baer & Co., Broadway and Thirty foarth.st' sad
yesterday that the first OF MAY naa iose soou
many Of it's terrors in tho last foqr OF hye years.
great many people, be continued, m S r nom
later on In May in the fall. Leases, OF course,
date chiefly from May !, but possession may be
fF hsqs ~ great lot of moving, apparently, but
m uch less than there used to be-
More people sbuy houses nowadays. Inc great
bulk of the dwelling hGuaes above Forty
are occupied by their owners. fiats nave taken
tbe place In great part of the old rented louses.
Vain IL Is getting moro expensive to rent, Win
money so easy to borrow and 30 many houses onerea
The general movement this year. II there Is one
AZ all Ia un-togn 10 the section between fOIty- |